


The Essence Of Family

by neoculture_dorkology



Series: A Family Forged In Blood [2]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, M/M, Violence, more characters will be added!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-23 04:46:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17676731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neoculture_dorkology/pseuds/neoculture_dorkology
Summary: Haechan's learning the hard way that the truth is a bloody mess, and Taeil might not be everything he seems to be.





	1. Haechan

Haechan's feet pound against the gravel road, his backpack an uncomfortable weight on his back as he runs. He's late again, and he knows how his father gets whenever he's late; he worries, then rages, then worries again and eventually withdraws into himself, albeit keeping an eye on Haechan as though he wants to ensure the boy doesn't vanish into thin air. 

Their old, beat-up truck is sitting in the driveway when Haechan slows down and opens the gate. He closes it behind him and flips down the latch to keep it in place, looking around for his father – the man might be in their house, but he's usually outside, poring over a book or papers. Sometimes he's gardening or working with their chickens and cows; but he's usually easy to see as soon as Haechan arrives. 

Today he's not, and that would might have been worrisome, if Haechan didn't already know that his father was beyond capable of taking care of himself. The teenager keeps walking, pausing long enough to greet their scruffy dog, Scrap, with scratches behind the ears. 

When he finally steps onto the wraparound deck of their house, Haechan can hear singing. Taeil's cooking, then; he always sings when he cooks. Some of Haechan's first memories, though vague, are of Taeil's honey voice as he bustled around their kitchen. That also means Taeil's probably lost track of time, and Haechan might not witness Taeil's worry and rage. Though never directed at Haechan, Taeil's rages terrify him – Taeil burns hot, and then cold, and sometimes, there's electricity crackling in the air. 

"Dad?" Haechan calls out before he enters, to let his father know who it is. The singing stops, and then there's a startled curse. Taeil's probably seen the time. "I'm sorry I'm late. I forgot my backpack, and then I had to go back and get it, and then Mark asked me for my number." 

Taeil's out of the kitchen in a flash, his apron covered in flour and sleeves rolled up; there's flour in his hair and chocolate smeared on his face. Haechan chooses not to point it out, because Taeil's always a mess when he cooks. "What did you tell him?" 

"That I'd give it to him tomorrow." Haechan drops his backpack with a sigh of relief and slinks to the refrigerator, in search of the milk. "What are you making?" 

"Get a glass, Haechan Seo, don't you dare drink that out of the carton," Taeil warns. "Biscuits, and chocolate cake, and apple pie." 

"You're craving sweets," Haechan deduces, fishing a glass out of the cabinet. He never gets away with drinking the milk out of the carton. 

"No, I just feel like baking. Do you have summer work?" Taeil asks, as he kneads the biscuit dough.

"Not this time. I'm free!" Haechan sang, capping the milk carton. 

"Not even summer reading?" Taeil's eyebrows are raised, disbelief present on his features. "I find that a little hard to believe."

Haechan shrugs, and steals a pinch of the raw biscuit dough, avoiding Taeil's half-hearted swat at his hand. "It's true. I guess Miss Jung just didn't want to deal with bad book summaries this time." 

Taeil rubs flour over a cutting board, gaze piercing when he levels it on Haechan. "I tried to tell you to write a proper summary last year, but you didn't listen." 

Haechan gulps down half his glass of milk, ignoring Taeil's scold to drink slowly, and shrugs again, setting the glass down so he can put the carton of milk back in the refrigerator. "I'm not complaining. I'm free for the entire summer!" 

Taeil sighs at him, but it's a sigh of vague annoyance and not overwhelming irritation. As he rolls out the dough, Taeil looks at Haechan again, his eyes serious. "Why don't you take all of that energy outside and play ball with Scrap, or practice martial arts?" 

Haechan wrinkles his nose. "You're kicking me outside?" 

"Sunlight is good for you. You're indoors all the time during the school year. Go play outside," Taeil orders, and his tone makes it clear Haechan can't refuse. He pouts, chugs the last of his milk and sets the glass in the sink before exiting through the side door conveniently located in the kitchen. 

It's bright outside, the summer sun glowing happily above. Haechan settles on the edge of the deck and swings his legs back and forth, surveying their garden. Taeil's obviously tended it already. There's no trace of weeds and all the vegetables have picked with his usual methodical approach. Haechan contemplates going inside to find a bell pepper or a tomato, but Taeil will probably just chase him right back out. 

Scrap must have heard the door opening and closing, because pattering paws approach and the dog is shoving his nose under one of Haechan's elbows, tail wagging as he demands attention. Haechan giggles and scratches him behind the ears, continuing to swing his legs back and forth. He has a great life, even if it's just been him and Taeil.

Haechan's only ever had Taeil. There was never another parent in the picture, and Haechan understands why now. Taeil's husband is buried under one of the shade trees in their front yard. Sometimes, Haechan sees Taeil seated there in the early mornings talking to thin air, but he doesn't disturb him. Taeil's told him a lot about Johnny and how much he still loves and misses him. 

Nonetheless, only one parent or not, Haechan's never had it rough. Taeil's the best father Haechan could ever ask for. He's all Haechan thinks he'll ever need in life. Except maybe a boyfriend, but Taeil claims he's still too young. 

With a content sigh, Haechan stretches out on the deck to sunbathe. He rests his arms over his closed eyes and feels Scrap curling up next to him, snorting when a cold nose shoves against his bicep. 

That's where Taeil finds him when he comes to tell Haechan that the biscuits are done. Haechan hears him sigh, and grins blindly at his father, who sits down next to him and runs a hand (which hopefully is not covered in flour) through Haechan's hair. "Come have a biscuit, Haechannie." 

"Five more minutes? I'm tanning, Dad." 

Taeil snorts at him. "You're already tanned, honey," he points out, gripping one of Haechan's arms and trying (unsuccessfully) to pull the teenager to his feet. "Why'd you have to go and get so big?" 

"To thwart your attempts at dragging me around," Haechan answers cheerfully, but he stretches like a cat and gets to his feet. "Be careful not to strain your back." 

Taeil scowls. "Haechan, are you implying I'm old?" 

"Well..." Haechan trails off, and beams at his father. "Maybe just a little?" 

If Taeil chases Haechan around the deck until he can catch him and tickle him until he laughs so hard he cries, Scrap is the only witness. 


	2. Taeil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taeil can't sleep.

It's past midnight and Haechan is already long asleep, curled up in his twin-sized bed that he's refused to let Taeil replace despite how big he's growing.

Taeil, however, can't sleep.

He's seated on the deck in a wooden rocking chair, his legs stretched out in front of him and crossed at the ankle. A glass of water rests on the deck beside his chair – Scrap is too well-trained to try and drink out of Taeil's glass. He can get away with murder when it comes to Haechan, but Taeil is, and has always been, unshaken by Scrap's puppy eyes. 

The moon is full, lighting up Taeil's surroundings. He gazes at Johnny's grave, his heart heavy as what happened sixteen years ago flashes through his mind yet again. He remembers Dongyoung's blades tearing into Johnny's flesh as vividly as though it was happening all over again, and it pains him just as much, like there's a raw, open wound that he doesn't know how to close. It's joined the already-festering pain of Jeno's death, which vengeance didn't soothe. Sometimes, Taeil feels as though vengeance only served to rub salt in old wounds. Going to Reindel had been a bad decision on their part. Revenge has cost Taeil everything, but at the same time... 

If not for going to Reindel, Taeil wouldn't have Haechan, and if there is one thing Taeil doesn't regret from the fateful voyage to Reindel, it's discovering Haechan and stealing him away from that place of death and deceit. He couldn't just leave an innocent child behind – and not a day has passed that Taeil has wished he'd never taken Haechan with him.

Taeil's thumb rubs across a tattoo on his wrist. It's one of the few marks that litter his skin, battle scars aside. It's a tattoo of three names – _Johnny, Jeno, Haechan_. On the other wrist is another, but that tattoo has been covered for twenty-six years.

Taeil stares at his covered wrist and contemplates calling the person whose name is inked into his skin, but after twenty-six years without contact, Taeil isn't sure if he'll want to hear from Taeil, or if he's even still alive. Taeil's lost too much; he doesn't know if he can handle losing again. 

Initially, Taeil had broken off contact in the hopes that Dongyoung wouldn't find, and kill, another of the people close to him. But now, Taeil fears that maybe he is dead, and that reaching out now would just bring even more pain to him. Taeil is selfish, and wants to keep his fragile happiness for as long as he can. If only until Haechan inevitably chooses to leave, which Taeil knows won't be long from now. Haechan's sixteenth birthday is approaching, and before Taeil knows it, Haechan will be an adult. 

This time, Taeil is going to ensure that nothing happens to his son, even if it means traveling to the depths of hell once again. He isn't the man he was when Jeno died. He's loved, and he's lost, and he isn't going to lose his second child.

Taeil will die first, and that isn't just an empty statement meant to make him seem like something he isn't. It's merely a fact. 

Scrap releases a low whine, and Taeil leans over to scratch him behind the ears, gaze still fixated on the headstone which the tree had grown up around. It's nothing fancy. Even if Taeil had wanted to give Johnny an extravagant tomb sealed against time, Johnny had always been a man who valued simplicity, and so all Taeil had done was seal the coffin against the effects of time.

Scrap whines again, but this is not the attention-seeking whine the previous one had been. This whine sends shivers down Taeil's spine, a whine of evident fear. Taeil tenses as the night goes still, silent; a cloud passes over the moon, engulfing the world in darkness. 

When the clouds pass, and the night sounds resume, Taeil gathers his glass of water and opens the door. Scrap darts inside before him and Taeil follows, ensuring that all of the locks, bolts and chains on all of the doors and windows are in place. He makes his lockup rounds thrice, an ominous chill still surrounding him like an unwelcome, smothering blanket. Scrap sticks close to Taeil until the man finally goes to his bedroom, the dog running into Haechan's to guard him for the night. 

Taeil changes into his nightclothes quickly, scooping his dirty clothes off of the floor and dropping them in the laundry hamper. He's slower at brushing his teeth, ensuring that they're clean before he makes his way to his bed at last.

The mattress is little comfort, however. Taeil tosses and turns, unable to sleep as his mind creates horrible scenarios and he finds himself worrying endlessly throughout the night. 

When sleep finally comes, nightmares traipse in with it. 

 

* * *

 

Taeil wakes with two warm bodies pressed against him, one furry and one not. Haechan is curled into his front, while Scrap lays with his back against Taeil's.

Taeil honestly isn't surprised to find his bed invaded by teenager and dog. He rubs his eyes with the hand that's free (Haechan's laying on one of his arms, which is numb) and checks the clock on the bedside table. It's eight in the morning on a Saturday and, by all appearances, Taeil is going to be trapped for a while. Haechan isn't a light sleeper, but when he's asleep on someone, there's no escape. He's clingy and by now physically stronger than Taeil – Taeil's not sure where all of that strength comes from, but at the same time, he has his suspicions. Either way, Taeil's in no mood to wrestle with a teenager.

So, instead of ruining the morning peace, Taeil hugs Haechan close and closes his eyes, willing himself back to sleep. He's willing to cherish all the time he has with Haechan, even if it means letting the morning slip past while laying about in bed. 

Honestly, Haechan's getting too big to be doing this, but Taeil doesn't have the heart to tell him that. (Maybe he's also greedy for as much of his son as he can get, before Haechan grows up and goes to college.) Some days Taeil wishes Haechan was a child again, so he could swing him up onto his hip and carry him around, show him a world of wonder and hear his adorable giggles – but Taeil is proud of the young man he's growing into, even if he's late home half the time and worries Taeil sick. 

It makes Taeil a little emotional to think about how Haechan is growing like a weed. It seems like just yesterday, Haechan was a child pulling him around by the fingers. Now he's a teenager Taeil can't even drag off the ground anymore. 

Haechan's growing up fast, and it scares Taeil. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi,,, it's me again sfdjf;ld I just had to write another chapter  
> have a dosage of Taeil angsting!


End file.
